The tires of an automobile are an important component. Tires engage the road and ideally maintain good contact under a variety of weather and road conditions. Tires include road surface-engaging treads and supporting sidewalls. The sidewall of each tire carries information about the tire such as the brand of tire and a Department of Transportation code, or simply, a tire code. The tire code identifies the name of the manufacturer that made the tire, where it was made, and when it was made so that a defect in a particular tire can be traced through its tire code to determine whether other tires manufactured by that manufacturer might also contain the defect. The code also helps to identify other tires that could be used as replacements.
The specification for the tire code and its contents is provided in Title 49 of the Code of Federal Regulations Section 571.109 and is an alphanumeric code. The tire code comprises the letters DOT followed by twelve alpha-numeric characters formed in relief in the sidewall of the tire, either by molded raised or molded inset characters. Tires are usually black so the code is “black on black” and difficult to read particularly in low light. An illustration of a tire code is shown in FIG. 1.